As we sadly face our new reality of “alternative facts” and fake news, we’re now hearing interviews with a nuclear-obsessed, pot-hating Republican who obviously has a wild imagination.

In an interview with CNN about Trump’s border wall, GOP Representative from Arizona, Trent Franks, raised a point in defense of the $50-billion dollar undertaking: Someone might try to smuggle nukes into “America, the world’s flagship of freedom and if we don’t have a secure barrier, that hurts everyone in the long run.”

Ah…nukes?

Yes, and I quote: “We sometimes used to make the point that if someone wanted to smuggle in a dangerous weapon—even a nuclear weapon—into America, how would they do it? And the suggestion was made, ‘Well, we’ll simply hide it in a bale of marijuana.’”

Franks, with a straight face, tried to pass off his suggestion as a national security implication for our country’s “porous border.”

Franks failed to specify exactly who suggested hiding nukes in a bale of marijuana or who “sometimes used to make the point.”

The assumption is that he was referring to his own speech, available on his website, on the floor of the House of Representatives in 2012 when he said—again, with a straight face:

“Specifically imagine for a moment, Mr. Speaker, the scenario of Hezbollah, one of Iran’s terrorist proxies, gaining possession of just two nuclear warheads and bringing them across the border into the United States concealed, say, in bales of marijuana, then transporting them into the heart of two different, crowded, unnamed cities. Then calling and telling the White House exactly when and where the first one will be detonated, and then following through 60 seconds later.”

When asked about recent executive orders that give local authorities the power to essentially deport and detain immigrants who have committed no crimes, Franks used the GOP go-to response and accused the media of not telling the truth.

When CNN’s Brianna Keilar held up Trump’s executive order and read from it, Franks still insisted that she somehow was mistaken, or lying…after he closed his dropped jaw and stopped stuttering.

Taking all of this into account, one wonders why a supposed fiscal conservative like Franks would dream of spending $25 billion on a wall that has already been been debunked as ineffective, untenable and a generally terrible idea.

But then, perhaps Franks’ penchant for science fiction and political thrillers puts him into a different psychological category than the rest of us mortals.